


The Darkness Child

by TheCrimsonStoryteller



Series: The Darkness [1]
Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, I am not sorry, Implied/Referenced Torture, Just an au i created, Minor Character Death, Not Canon Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, honestly I have no idea where this is going, probably ooc sometimes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:34:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26719882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCrimsonStoryteller/pseuds/TheCrimsonStoryteller
Summary: This is the story of a girl. A girl that was sent to another world, albeit not by her own choice. She was forced there.Forced to become the child of darkness.
Relationships: Claire Nuñez & Mary Wang, Claire Nuñez & Original Character(s), Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Series: The Darkness [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1944601
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

Claire woke up by the sound of someone aggressively knocking on her door. She got up from the couch with a groan, having fallen sleep in front of the TV as always. She, looking like a zombie nonetheless, slowly made her way to check out the noise.

 _Why now..._ She cursed under her breath when she saw her friend, Mary at the door. She sighed and opened the door before quickly moving to go to bathroom as Mary burst in. 

"Oh my god!" She shouted when she saw Claire. "You're not even ready yet?! Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting?" 

Claire quickly changed into her casual clothes, all the while ignoring her friend's whining and complaints. "Calm down, we're not gonna be _that_ late."

"You don't even know who's coming."

She shrugged. "Sandwiches or cake and milk?" She muttered under her breath as she opened the fridge.

A pillow was thrown at her. "Are you even listening?" 

_Cake and milk sounds better!_ She took out the milk and the cake she had made the night before and closed the fridge by her leg. "Sure. Who's coming anyways?"

"Shannon, Darci and Aja." She let out a frustrated sigh, plopping herself onto the couch.

Claire hummed and poured some of the milk for herself. "Want some milk and cake?"

_"No!"_

She chuckled. "Look. Being thirty minutes late won't ruin anything."

"Maybe not for you! Now hurry and drink your milk. Let's go!"

"Okay, okay." She sighed, downing an entire glass of milk in one go, before setting it on the counter.

She stared at the delicious chocolate cake she had spent so much time on for a bit, before Mary's voice snapped her out of him thoughts. _"Claire!"_

She huffed. "If only you'd let me eat my shit."

"They're probably waiting for us in the forest now!" She shouted, dragging her outside and chucking her into her car in a hurry. 

"Well let's go then, miss crazy asshole that won't give me a break." The latina chuckled with a wink.

The girl glared at her before taking up the drivers seat. After driving for half an hour they got to the forest and parked the car in the outskirts. When they got out of the car, no one was to be seen.

"Oh. I think they've left, Mary!" She gasped, messing with her friend.

"If they've left, then you're leaving too, except you're not going home. You'll have a one way trip to afterlife."

"It won't be any good without you now, would it?"

_"Claire!"_

She laughed as they made their way through the forest. Messing with Mary and making her angry was always fun.

They ventured further into the forest, until they heard screams. In the distant, they could see three figures stumbling towards then with their mouths open wide.

The latina jumped up, hiding behind her friend. "Remember that horror movie we watched with the three zombie teenagers? These are those three!"

"Dude. It's Shannon, Darci and Aja."

"Then why are they like that?"

She opened her mouth to answer, when the three 'zombies' caught up to them and Shannon tried to bite Mary. They chased the two friends for about half and hour with wide open mouths, trying to bite them.

The five of them soon reached the campsite and rushed into one of the tents. Claire kicked at Shannon, laughing loudly. "What's wrong with you?!"

"Where were you guys?" Darci asked, turning to face Mary in the small tent.

"It was this cat's fault."

Four sets of eyes zoomed on her. "You're talking about Mary, right?" She gulped.

Laughter broke out in the group again, except for the girl in question, who looked like she was going to test if she could drown her. Claire just stared at her friend with a smirk.

She punched her in the arm. "Shush! If anyone laughs I'll slap them."

"Mary Wang goes commando!"

The other three were barely holding in their laughter, as evident by their shoulder shaking.

"Want me to go commando on you?"

"No! I was joking!"

"Alright. I feel bad for you now, I'll let you live this time."

Once the situation had cleared up, the three idiots broke out into laughter.

Claire's stomach grumbled, causing her to turn to the others. "Shh! Bring me snacks!"

Mary and Shannon layed on the ground, pretending to be dead, Darci curled up, pretending she was sleep. "You're the only ones left. Bring us our snacks." They said with closed eyes.

"Well Wang, we were supposed to go to afterlife together, but I guess you were more excited about it. Rest in pineapple."

"Shut up!" Mary said, getting up with wide eyes.

"She's alive!" She gasped, lying down instead of her. "Now that you're up. Go get the snacks."

Mary cursed under her breath, following Aja out of the tent, soon coming back. "Here's snacks. Now stop whining."

Claire snatched an apple that her friend was about to bite into, quickly running out of the tent and settling up on a tree as the girl followed out shouting.

"Guess she did mean Claire when she said cat." Aja muttered.

"I heard that!"

"Have you washed your hands?" Darci shouted.

Claire chuckled at that. Darci was the oldest had just started medical school and she was a total clean freak. "...No?"

"Darci! Stop questioning her about that before she makes you throw a fit!" Mary called.

"...There's something there." Shannon muttered as a few of the leaves scrunched. "Maybe it's a ghost."

"You crazy? Why would a ghost be here in the middle of the day?" Claire said, rolling her eyes. The leaves scrunched again and Shannon jumped up, slowly climbing the tree and sitting next to her. "There's nothing there. Why are you so scared?"

When she said that, a small rabbit jumped out of the bushes and ran away, causing Shannon let out a shaky sigh of relief. 

"Why are you both up there?" Darci called.

"It's nothing. Shannon saw a bird and came up to try to see it." She lied. The older girl just sighed and shook her head before leaving them be.

"Thanks." She muttered gratefully. "She wouldn't let me live it down if she knew."

"You were overreacting anyways."

She looked down, burrowing her head in her hands. "You know me. I'm scared of ghosts and stuff. That's basically how we met in highschool. Remember?" She remembered the snowy day when she found a bunch of bullies messing with her because she believed in those kind of things. They understood each other well, she got bullied for being superstitious and Claire for her parents' death. But she fought back. The one thing that Shannon didn't.

They got down from the tree and went back into the tent. "What were you talking about?" She asked Aja.

"Supernatural stuff."

"You mean dumb stuff?" Claire raised a brow.

"You think they're dumb?" The light-haired girl asked hesitantly.

She scooped out her phone from her bag and started scrolling through her messages. "Yeah. If you can't see something, then it's not real and it's dumb."

Shannon cut in. "Maybe vampires and werewolves aren't real, but ghosts and angels and demons definitely are."

Claire let out a huff and pocketed her phone again. She'd rather chuck herself down a tree, if it meant they'd believe that this kind of things haven't ever existed, do not exist and will never exist. "Let's go take pictures or something. That's why you were begging to come here for." They all agreed and got up and out of the tent, except for Shannon. Her eyes were wide in fear. "What are you scared of? These things are nothing but superstitions. Don't bother yourself with them."

"I don't know." She wrapped her arms around herself. "You know when you just _feel_ like something bad's going to happen?"

She rolled her eyes and held out her hand. "Here. Take my hand and walk with me. It won't be so scary anymore."

They walked through the forest together, hand in hand. The red and yellow leaves scattered on the ground made the scenery even more beautiful and the sound of birds made it better.

She had always liked the sound of leaves cracking under her steps. It felt like she was stepping on her enemies and it gave her a pleasing rush of vengeance.

With Shannon's voice, she was dragged out of hier thoughts. "Hey! That's a good place for pictures!" She called.

"It's good." She nodded, taking out her phone.

They climbed up a big rock and stood there, the colorful leaves scattered behind them. 

She took her phone, holding it out for a selfie. "3, 2, 1!"

_Click_

The other three showed up as they made their way back down the rock. 

"There you are! We've been looking for you." Mary said.

"We were taking selfies." Shannon confessed.

"Well why didn't you tell us?" Aja asked, crossing her arms and making a mocking angry expression.

Claire crossed her arms. "With the speed you were going not even a cheetah could catch up to you. You expected us to catch up?"

"Well let's go take pictures somewhere else." Darci suggested, wanting to avoid a fight breaking out between the girls.

Mary rolled her eyes and pointed at somewhere between the trees. "Over there would look good."

"Yeah!" Aja agreed, before taking a look at the rock the two had taken a picture on. "You took your selfie there? Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Remember what I said about the cheetahs?"

They took a few selfies together, most of which were ruined by Claire or Aja jumping in the middle of them or holding their hands in front of the others' faces.

After taking billions of selfies until Mary's phone battery had ran out, they headed back to the tents.

Claire immediately went to her tent and lied down. "A certain cat didn't let me sleep, so I'm doing it now. Be quiet and don't bother me."

"Oh c'mon!" Darci complained.

She glared at her, causing everyone to go quiet. The glare always won. Mary said that her eyes changed colors and glowed when she glared like that and caused everyone to get scared. She didn't believe that. There was no way that was a thing.

She let her mind wander off into la la land as the others started to whisper among themselves.


	2. Chapter 2

Claire opened her eyes as she was shaken awake. Aja was sitting in front of her. "What is it?" She yawned.

"Come." Aja smiled. "We're baking potatoes over the fire!'

She paused for a few moments, staring at the light-haired girl, before the realization hit her. "What time is it?" She asked, quickly getting up.

"Eight. You slept a lot."

She shook her head in disbelief. "That's _five hours_ , Aja!" Aja broke into a small chuckle. Claire looked into her eyes with a fake glare. "Why are you laughing? You think I'm a clown?"

"No." Aja shook her head. "You're the circus."

She let out a betrayed gasp and tried to catch Aja, only for her to run out the tent. She decided to chase after her. She could vaguely hear the others cheering. "Run, run, catch her! Run, run, catch her!"

Claire tackled her to the ground and started messing with her hair, causing Aja to kick in protest. "Stop it! Not my hair!" She shouted dramatically, letting out muffled laughs.

Claire stepped back and looked at her handiwork, Aja's hair was now standing up like spikes. "Now that, is what I call perfection."

She and Aja went back to the group, sitting on a rock next to the other girls around the fire. She skewered a potato and set it on the fire to bake. Everyone were busy with their potatoes and a blanket of quiet peace falling over them. The hooting of the owls made it even more serene. She looked up, seeing the full moon shining in the sky, looking even brighter and more mysterious than usual. She had always loved the night. It instilled a strong sense of peace and mystery in her.

The voice of Shannon brought her out of her thoughts. "It's the full moon tonight."

Claire sighed and rolled her eyes. "Well? What about it?"

"Well, it's the werewolf night." Darci and Mary nodded in agreement.

She huffed. She didn't _hate_ fantasy things, she's just rather have them stay as, well, fantasies. She turned to complain to Aja about this.

But the light-haired girl wasn't there.

"Where's Aja?" She sat up quickly, looking around for their missing friend.

"Didn't you see her leave?" Darci asked as the others also got up.

"No?"

Mary ran a hand through her hair, trying not to panic. "Okay, Claire, you stay here and wait to see if Aja comes back and watch over our stuff. Shannon and Darci, come with me to go look for her."

They left, leaving Claire by the fire. She sta back. biting into her potato nervously. A cold breeze rushed around her, causing her to wrap her arms around herself for warmth. Usually that would work, but this time it didn't. Seeing that the fire was also running out, she decided to get up and head back into the tent.

That was when she heard the leaves moving, as if someone had stepped on them. "Aja? Is that you?" The leaves moved again, this time nearer to her. The fire had gone out, leaving her in the dark. "Aja, th-this isn't funny." Her voice shook in her fear.

She looked up, the dark clouds had rolled around to cover the moon. She gulped and looked down again, though this time, instead of seeing trees and bushes in front of herself, she saw the black eyes of a person standing right in front of her, staring into hers.

She tried to scream, causing the person to reach out their hand and grab her wrist.

The hand was cold, that was all she could think before she fell unconscious.


	3. Chapter 3

She could here shuffling and muttering around herself, though she couldn't make out what it was. She slowly opened here eyes, raising her head slightly to look around, but it was too dark for that. 

Trying not to panic, she blinked a few times to try and see around herself more clearly. "What is this place?" She whispered.

A girl's voice sounded from somewhere in the room. "The dungeons."

"What?!" She looked to her left, seeing the girl.

"Are you deaf? She said we're in the dungeons." Another girl sitting next to her responded. She was wearing red robes, causing the latina to get even more confused. 

_What do you mean that we're in dungeons?!_ She wanted to ask, but decided to hold back her tongue. She took another look at the cell. Large white pillars and bars with red stains that she was hoping were not blood and white walls with a high ceiling. Other than her and the two girls, there was also three boys there, two of them were unconscious and had blood trailing down their mouths and the last one was looking around in a haze.

She extended her leg and gave the conscious boy a light kick to get his attention. "Do you know where we are?"

The boy looked at her blankly for a few moments without responding, before looking away again.

"Why isn't he answering?" She asked the normal-looking girl.

"...They've lost their tongues. All three of them."

_Oh god..._

The robed girl jumped in their conversation before Claire could gather her thoughts and respond. "Are you an spy?"

"Spy?!" She laughed humourlessly. "Me and my friends were supposed to be having fun and now I'm stuck in a cell in the middle of nowhere. Do I sound like an _spy_ to you?"

The boy was staring at her again, causing shivers to go up her spine. His eyes, they were just like the ones she saw in the woods.

She was reminded of her phone when she heard a ping from it. She reached into her pocket and brought it out, catching sight of the two girls' amazed expressions. "What? Have you never seen a phone?" 

"A what?"

She sighed and turned it on, trying to ignore its cracked screen. There were messages from Mary.

 **Mery:** Where are you

 **Mery:** Come back now

 **Mery:** Please 

**Mery:** This isnt funny

 **Mery:** We found Aja

 **Mery:** Shes dead

She stared at the screen in shock, the phone slowly falling out of her hand. The boy scooted over to her, staring at the screen for a few seconds and reading the texts. He soon sat back where he was before, staring down blankly. She could feel drops of tears rolling down her cheek.

The two girls were staring at her and whispering to themselves. She curled up around herself, setting her head on her legs. She stayed like that for about an hour before she heard footsteps approaching their cell. She looked over to the door, seeing a man standing there. He was wearing long white robes and had black hair and eyes.

_Those eyes..._

"Get up. You are coming with me to the ceremony." His voice was smooth, but settled a deep fear in her chest. 

Against her own will, Claire got up with the others. They made their way down a thin corridor. Trails of blood had stained the ground and there were screams, coming out of seemingly nowhere. The cells were filled with people of all ages, blood pouring out of their bodies. She tried to ignore the skeletons still changed to the walls. 

They got to a big wooden door. The man stepped forward and set his hand on the door and muttered something under her breath, causing it to open. She stared at him in horror as he started to float forward.

_Who is this guy?_

"I am Etris." The man responded out of the blue. "But you aren't going to call me that, Claire Nuñez."

With widened eyes, she looked down at the ground. _We're in a world we shouldn't be in._ Her mind supplied unhelpfully. She shooke her head, trying to ignore that train of thought.

"Your mind is right."

"Where am I?" She finally dared to ask.

Etris stared at her coldly. "Where you get executed at last."

Her blood ran cold. What did he even mean? She hadn't done anything wrong to deserve this! 

So far they had passed by several rooms and hallways in different shapes and forms, but none of them looked like and execution room. She felt her hair stand on end as she thought about the kids she had seen in the cells. She could only wonder what was in store for them.

This time they reached a silver door with gold designs on it. Etris repeated the same things from before and the door opened. 

Claire couldn't believe what she was seeing. She looked up and down at the beatiful throne in front of them, it was almost enough for her to forget all about what was happening. The flooring was silver with intricate gold designs, same with the curtains covering the large windows.

"You may start, Etris." Came booming voice from the man sitting on the throne.

Etris bowed his head. "As you wish, your highness." He clapped his hands and a sword and a wooden plank appeared in front of them. 

In a second, the king vanished and appeared in front of them, setting a hand on Etris' shoulder. "You shall get the reward of your loyalty after the war." He then went back to his throne. "Start."

Etris stared at them for a few moments, a bit hesitant. "Gloria." The girl with red robes walked towards him, her back straight and her face hardened with anger. "Gloria. You're an smart and strong girl, with many achievement. It'd be a shame for you to die. Are you willing to save your own life by becoming our spy?"

The girl stared at him coldly. "I'd rather lose my head than be a traitor to my kind."

The king scowled. "Off with her head."

Gloria paid him no attention. She made her way to the plank gracefully and set her head on it. Claire closed her eyes to not see. The thought that she was going to also lose her head to that beautiful yet deadly sword kept going through her head. 

Etris raised his sword and was about to bring it down when everything started to shake.

**Author's Note:**

> Guess what? I, again, have no idea what I'm going to do with this.


End file.
